Q 01/05

Who discovered penicillin in 1928?

A) Howard Florey

B) Alexander Fleming

C) Joseph Lister

D) Louis Pasteur

Answer · why

B) Alexander Fleming

He was a Scottish physician working at St Mary's Hospital in London and found it as a crude extract of Penicillium rubens.

Q 02/05

Penicillin was originally obtained from what kind of organism?

A) Algae

B) Yeasts

C) Bacteria

D) Moulds

Answer · why

D) Moulds

Eight species of Penicillium in the section Chrysogena produce it; most clinical penicillin comes from P. chrysogenum.

Q 03/05

Penicillins belong to which class of antibiotics, named for a ring in their structure?

A) Macrolides

B) Tetracyclines

C) Beta-lactams

D) Aminoglycosides

Answer · why

C) Beta-lactams

The four-membered ring is essential to the drug's activity and is fused to a five-membered thiazolidine ring.

Q 04/05

On what date did Fleming first notice a mould killing his Staphylococcus culture?

A) 3 September 1918

B) 28 February 1928

C) 3 September 1928

D) 7 March 1929

Answer · why

C) 3 September 1928

He confirmed the observation on 28 September and published in 1929, coining the name to avoid saying 'mould broth filtrate'.

Q 05/05

Fleming said he named penicillin on the same lines as which older drug, named after the foxglove?

A) Morphine

B) Quinine

C) Aspirin

D) Digitalin

Answer · why

D) Digitalin

The name simply says the substance came from a plant of the genus Penicillium.